Here are the Co-Optimus' Staff Picks for the Top 5 Co-Op Games for the Rest of 2008.
5. Fable 2 (360, Lionhead/Microsoft, October 21st)
Co-Op Experience: 2 Player Online and Offline Co-Op
While the original Fable may have over promised and under delivered, Fable 2 is going to do it's best to live up to the hype. On the co-op side of things, this game takes a unique stab at it. As you play the game you will come across spheres that represent you friends and where they are in the game. You walk up to the sphere and you can join their adventures and take on the trials together. When you want to leave you can easily go back to your campaign. It also sounds as if the visiting character will affect the host’s world unless a safety feature is turned on. Your dog will unfortunately not come with you.
4. Resistance 2 (PS3, Insomniac/Sony, November 4th)
Co-Op Experience: 8 Player Online Co-Op
This sequel comes to us with an 8-player co-op mode whose story differs from the single-player story. There are numerous character classes to choose from, all of which you can level up and unlock weapons and skills. (ala CoD4) The game will also feature full drop-in/drop-out support with scalable enemy difficulties based on the number of players. There will be some fierce competition between this and Gears of War 2, which releases a few days after.
3. Rock Band 2(360/PS3/Wii/PS2, Harmonix/MTV/EA, Sept 14th 360, October 19th others)
Co-Op Experience: 4 Player Online and Offline Co-Op
Everyone’s music game darling comes around for a second wave and this time it you’ll be able to go through the World Tour section of the game with three other people cooperatively ONLINE. The biggest discerning feature for Rock Band 2? Almost all of the previous game's song will be backwards compatible, so if you own RB1 you can import you songs into 2 for $5. Also, all of your downloadable content will work the day you turn the game on. No doubt this will be a huge year for music games and now the instruments should be cross compatible as well.
2. Gears of War 2 (360, Epic/Microsoft, November 7th)
Co-Op Experience: 2 Player Online/Offline Story Co-Op and 5 Player Online Co-Op Mode
The original Gears of War brought the absolute best co-op experience to date on the Xbox 360 (just look at the ratings on this site for it). So it's no surprise we have high expectations for the latest title from Epic Games. Once again you'll be provided with a tightly integrated drop-in/drop-out 2-player co-op story mode. New this year is the addition of the 5-player co-op Horde mode where you face off against increasing waves of enemies together. It is just too bad there isn’t 4-player co-op through the campaign, but the Horde mode should tide us over.
1. Left 4 Dead (360/PC, Valve/EA, November 20th)
Co-Op Experience: 4 Player Online Co-Op - 2 Player Split Screen on 360 Version as well as 4 Player Online.
This is the one game that was on everyone's list this year. Sporting a 4 player co-op story mode in which players attempt to survive the zombie onlsaught, Left 4 Dead has an atmosphere that is like no other game to date. The game was designed from the ground up for co-op play, and it's essential to use tactics and teamwork to survive. Even the game's vs. mode which allows 8 players to play online together has strong ties to co-op. After E3 and PAX this year, it's easy to see why this is our number one anticipate co-op game of the year.
Notable Mentions:
Guitar Hero: World Tour (Multiple Platforms, Neversoft/Vicarious Visions/Activision Blizzard, October 25th) - Guitar Hero's first foray into multiple instruments, can it survive the jump?
LittleBigPlanet (PS3, Media Molecue/Sony, October 21st) - It's yet to be seen just how much game is in LBP.
Red Alert 3 (PC/360, EA October 27th, 360 Novemeber 11th) - An RTS where every mission is designed to be played co-op. Risky.
Saint’s Row 2 (360/PS3/PC, Volition/THQ, October 14th) - Open world and goofy, drop in and drop out throughout the entire campaign. You can also dress as a hotdog.